Wayzata hangs on against Carmel

The Wayzata (Minn.) Trojans and Carmel Catholic Corsairs battled back and forth through Friday night’s nonconference contest in Dubuque, Iowa, with Wayzata coming out on top 33-27.

Carmel Catholic scored on its first possession of the game on a 23-yard field goal for the 3-0 lead, but Wayzata answered quickly with an 84-yard connection from Nick Martin to Ethan Zeidler for a 6-3 lead.

It stayed that way until the last minute of the first half, when the Corsairs tied the game going into the locker rooms with a 33-yard field goal and a 6-6 halftime score.

The second half opened quickly when the Trojans’ Erik Roti scored on a 94-yard kickoff return to give Wayzata a 13-6 lead. The Trojans then spread the lead to 20-6 after three with a 36-yard touchdown catch by Jeff Borchardt, and it appeared Wayzata might win comfortably.

The fourth quarter proved anything but routine, however.

Carmel scored early in the quarter on a 13-yard run from Mike Panico to pull to within 20-13. Wayzata then answered with Martin’s third touchdown pass, a 30-yard, fourth-and-9 pass to Zeidler for a 27-13 lead.

A second touchdown run by Panico pulled the Corsairs back to within 27-20, but a Roti touchdown gave Wayzata some breathing room with less than 3:00 to play at 33-20.

Carmel drove the field and scored with 32 seconds remaining on a touchdown pass from Brian Brennan to Mike Orlaski to make it 33-27.

Carmel then recovered the onside kick and moved as close as the Wayzata 35. But the Trojans defense stepped up as Brennan’s last-chance pass was intercepted by Kyle Kalivoda to seal the victory for Wayzata.